Scandal – Crash and Burn

Olivia (Kerry Washington) takes the case of a pilot whose husband (Darren Pettie) doesn’t want to see the airline is scapegoat for a commercial plane crash that killed everyone on board. After watching the airline throw the woman under the bus in the initial press conference Olivia & Associates start their own investigation. Finch (Henry Ian Cusick) discovers the recent inspection report for the plane was forged from an earlier report and Abby (Darby Stanchfield) is able to find a witness (Amanda Fuller) to contradict reports that the 20-year sober alcoholic was drinking the night of the flight in an airport bar.

Huck (Guillermo Díaz) calls on resources from his past when Amanda Tanner (Liza Weil) goes missing shortly after Cyrus (Jeff Perry) informed Olivia that the President (Tony Goldwyn) was declaring war on Amanda, Olivia, and all of her associates. Huck is able to recognize an old associate (George Newbern) near Amanda’s apartment the night she was missing, and his short conversation with the man convinces Huck that someone very powerful paid his old friend to have Amanda killed.

Meanwhile, the President and his advisers use the death of one of a prominent Senator who was aboard the flight to try and push through legislation helpful to their administration. Cyrus and the President receive a second attempt at blackmail that makes it clear to them that neither Olivia nor Amanda was behind the first attempt.

Huck devolves in front of our eyes as he tortures a man for the information Olivia so desperately needs. Harrison (Columbus Short) is able to track the false report back to an overworked middle-aged woman (Lenora May) just trying to get to her daughter’s piano recital. And Olivia goes to U.S. Attorney David Rosen (Joshua Malina) for help in retrieving Amanda’s body and watches helplessly while Amanda’s father (Graham Beckel) identifies the body.

Knowing she’s the only one who can possibly help him, the President, with the aid of a couple of Secret Service agents, finds a way to sneak out to Olivia’s apartment in the middle of the night. There’s lots to process as the show takes an interesting turn. We learn Amanda was pregnant, but not with the President’s child. What this means for the White House’s war against Olivia, we’ll have to see.